Brian Thompson asked whether chiles needed staking like tomatoes. Tony Lill indicated he needed stakes to keep his plants upright due to shallow roots in clay soil making them prone to being blown over. Michael Bailes added that heavier peppers, like bells needed stakes for support. This has been my experience as well. The smaller, really hot peppers do not need much staking, but the larger-fruited varieties like the ancho and long green New Mexico ones tend to bear so much heavy fruit that their branches can break. I recommend putting in a stake as a matter of course at planting. Sometimes I use tomato cages or multiple bamboo sticks (I have them readily available). Putting them in at planting keeps roots from being disturbed later by putting in a stake in reaction to heavy growth on the plant. Use of more than one stake allows the plant to spread a bit. It sometimes is tough to plan how many to use or how tall a stake needs to be: some of my ancho 101 plants have gone over 6 feet tall, while other plants (like rocotos and habaneros) have a low, spreading habit getting no more than 2 feet off the ground. George Nelson 70431.3065@compuserve.com